November 4, 2005

Viper Pit !

 One on One with Head Coach Mel Christensen

Scribe: Mel if you were to sum things up for the first month of play where would you begin.

Mel: We were slow out of the gate scoring goals. We had a couple games where they were runaways. Over this past month of practise we’re better at our own end. That was #1, we had to get through to the players. We have to pick up the right guy in our own end.

Scribe: You feel perhaps the boys took other teams lightly.

Mel: Maybe that’s the 4-line thing.  When you play better teams if they’re not gonna throw 4-lines at you it’s gonna come down to the last period. We gotta keep putting pressure on them in their own end. That’s how you win games.

Scribe: What about you’re assistant coaches and how that compliments your role?

Mel: Trevor handles the D, making sure the guys are taking care of their own end and Nick does that with the forwards. I kind of watch the game Maybe if some guy needs a chewing I’ll do that, but really for the most part I watch the game and figure out what we gotta do to exploit their weaknesses or openings. We can’t be one dimensional. We try to make everybody capable to play at this level. And in order to do that you have to be able to play in all sorts of different situations. It’s hard to throw somebody into a role if they’ve been sitting on the bench. If they’ve been playin’ I think that’s the key to success. Being interchangeable ! This team has a goal. The majority of them have been to the end of the road ( Provincials and Westerns ) and they want to get back there. That’s why there’s nobody missing practise and there’s guys working hard in practise.